I was looking through the local schools boards continuing education brochure and I happened on the page about March Break Camps.

Our daughter has been talking about taking soccer again she did it the summer before last and really enjoyed it (by it I mean chewing on her hair and pulling up grass while the 3-4 strong players scored goals). her school is hosting a Soccer Camp however they will end the week of camp with a Pizza Party.

Our school has done away with Pizza Parties. In part because the principal at the time recognized that 510 grubby little hands can spread the cheese protien far and wide making reduction of risk of exposure to the allergen difficult.

So now that the school is relatively free from the allergens, the school boards wishes to bring it back.

No, I don't have to send her (would have been nice to have had the option) but it makes me feel that I can't let my guard down for a minute.

Survivor Camp includes a Pizza Party and an Ice Cream Party-now there's a fitting name!

I don't think that you are over reacting if the school agreed to being allergen free then they should stick to their word and not allow the pizza party to take place. At one school i used to go to they went nut free but then they had these Ice Cream sundae days and while they did have Chapmans ice cream they still had other ice creams that had "may contain nuts" on the label so people could still have the chance of carrying the allergen around. And they had kids to help out and i was one of them but instead of logically putting me at the nut free zone they put pouring drinks and put people without the allergy on the nut free zone which totally makes sense . I think that schools should keep to their word if they ban a certain allergy.

I mentioned it to the principal and she had no idea. I printed the page from the website and am bringing it in to her Tuesday at our PTA meeting.
She will contact the board to see who will be paying for the extra time to give the areas involved a thorough cleaning.
I must say that she has been very supportive. This is her first year (she arrived last year in the middle ofthe school year) and she does not want any significant events while she is in charge.

Spoke too soon, the after school club (daycare) uses halls at the sports centre and the sports centre is hosting a March Break camp with a Friday pizza lunch! It's not our group but now I need to see if it's the same halls.

Last year I noticed that R's school was hosting a March Break camp which included a pizza lunch on the Friday. I spoke to her principal to advise and enquire about whose budget would be responsible for ensuring reasonable precautions to reduce the risk of exposure to allergens,(hers or the school board who ran the day camp). This year I am happy to find that the school board is no longer offering a pizza lunch.

A quick scan of the day camps offered by the city this year shows that similar issue is happening at the sports centre which provides her with her before and after school program.

I spoke to the city staff who is running the program to check if it is indeed run out of the halls which her program uses. Yes, it is. I advised him of her condition and asked him to consider the issue and how he can safely provide this lunch while including strategies to reduce the risk of exposure for her when she returns the following Monday.

I am concerned that the children will eat the pizza with their hands and then play with the balls and equipment thus contaminating them with one of her allergens. I think he felt defencive because he indicated that he felt that I was asking for assurances that the environment would be 100% safe "blah, blah, blah" I've heard that before. We never feel 100% safe, that's why she wears an Epipen around her waist, there's one in the first aid kit with her name on it and why there are counsellors there who are trained on how to use it! (Can you imagine never feeling 100% safe-not even at home?)

I asked him to consider the schedule of events, perhaps swim time (they are planning swim time that day and there is a public swim that day 1-4pm) to help to reduce the likelyhood of contamination.

Hah! Don't ever accuse me of not trying to meet you half way! I bend over backwards to make sure that she is accomodated in a fair and reasonable way. All I am asking, is that the powers about what they are doing. According to Health Canada "Current estimates are that food allergies affect as many as 6% of young children and 3% to 4% of adults."

Before you take it upon yourself to introduce any of these as a special bonus, make the necessary plans on how to keep the children safe. The Day Nurseries Act 36.1, states that "every operator shall have an anaphylaxis policy that has a strategy to reduce the risk of exposure to anaphylatic causative agents."

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